Tickling Trout

I've caught trout many ways before and have heard my old man talk about it.
Spotted one here thru the poloroids,several attempts to swing a lure past it.
Without the poloroids I wouldn't of seen it.
Another attempt to swing a lure past as I was getting down the bank.
To no avail
Bugger just ignored all my offerings so I slid down the bank and slipped my hands underneath it and tryed to flip it out of the river.
The bugger wiggled that much I lost the grip and dropped him.
This caused the water to become cloudy with the silt,I stayed still till it cleared and spotted him again
Then my second attempt I caught it,and landed my first ever "tickled trout"

That's illegal.
But have to admit I have tickled one. Was showing off to some Welsh guys I was "guiding" and actually caught one. I was more surprised than them, tried not to let it show. Took a couple of pictures and let it go.

That's illegal.
But have to admit I have tickled one. Was showing off to some Welsh guys I was "guiding" and actually caught one. I was more surprised than them, tried not to let it show. Took a couple of pictures and let it go.

Brings back memories. When I was about 8 years old around 1954 I used to camp on the Waitahanui for weekends trout fishing with my Dad. I had a very small home made bamboo rod and tiny bakelite reel with linen thread for a line. My fly was a tattered old hawk n red. I was having a great time catching and releasing small fingerling trout from the banks of Delatours pool just outside our tent. Along came a few of the "local" teenage lads. They lay down on either side of me on the low grassy bank with an arm each dangling in the stream, feeling around in the undercut. It wasn't long before a couple of 6 pound trout lay kicking on the bank beside me. I was gobsmacked and later asked my Dad why we weren't fishing that way! He explained the situation satisfactorily so I just watched and learned from the locals but stayed with my rod and reel method.
Decades later, I was a guest, along with a few other Kiwi foresters, of the Canadian government. In the back woods of BC we came across some Indian lads fishing the upper reaches of a small river which was bank to bank with spawning Salmon. These lads were using sticks about 2" in diameter, wound with 20 ft of nylon and a big chrome kahawai spinner on the end. When dlicked, the line peeled off like from an open faced Alvey surf reel.They would cast the lure across the river, let it sink and then handline it back in a series of jagging movements, trying to foulhook the fish. This method was moderately successful. We noticed a large rock overhanging part of the river and so one of our party asked the Indian boys if they knew how to tickle fish. The answer was blank looks. We signaled them to watch and before long we tickled a good sized red backed salmon, then another, and gave them the fish. They had never heard of the method. We were surprised. I sometimes wonder if that tickle trick has now spread through the back country reservations of Canada! A little while later that afternoon we realized there was an elderly squaw on the opposite side of the river. We hadn't noticed her until she began shrieking at one of the boys because he had waded out into the river , onto the spawning redds to try to cast his spinner further across. She told him in no uncertain terms to get out of there and not to disturb the riverbed.

The old saying that the crime is not in the committing but in being caught, is completely wrong of course Pete. I could never understand why tickling trout was illegal. It is not as if you can't catch them by other means. Hell a quick drag with a net or a few sticks of jelly would be much quicker and it would save us all from having to see the top half of fellahs like my mate Carpe Diem sticking out of the water flicking a fly line or dudes like Dundee casting and winding back spinners.

It takes 43 muscle's to frown and 17 to smile, but only 3 for proper trigger pull.
What more do we need? If we are above ground and breathing the rest is up to us!Rule 1: Treat every firearm as loaded
Rule 2: Always point firearms in a safe direction
Rule 3: Load a firearm only when ready to fire
Rule 4: Identify your target beyond all doubt
Rule 5: Check your firing zone
Rule 6: Store firearms and ammunition safely
Rule 7: Avoid alcohol and drugs when handling firearms

the fish will probably have as much chance of surviving its human encounter as it wouldv'e if it has taken a # 14 dry off the surface or a nymph from below it then been played on 2lb line attached to a 5 weight rod...... then netted and handled for photos.
for the fish to be sitting across current as first photos show suggest its injured or sick as does its condition factor.
Ive seen fish in Temuka river doing the same thing and guided it to bank with rod tip had a look and it had been slashed across flank (fowl hook/shag/eel)
my point being one fish taken by what ever means is better for fishery than 25 legally hooked, played out and released when mortality rates amoung releasd fish isnt as flash as some would have you believe....and Dundee has stated this WASNT taken.